■Requiring that any group or university that authorizes charter schools lose their ability to charter more schools if more than 10% of their schools are failing.

The Free Press investigation, which started publishing on Sunday, found charter schools spend nearly $1 billion in state taxpayer funds with little transparency and accountability. Many charters are run by for-profit management companies that contend they do not have to disclose how they spend the school’s money beyond broad budget categories.

The investigation also found shortcomings in the state charter law that allow conflicts of interest to persist, a problem since the first charters opened 20 years ago. And the newspaper found board members who were removed by their school’s authorizer when they asked their management company to be more transparent about school finances.

Schauer acknowledged that there are many excellent charter schools in the state, but some of the worst performing schools in the state also are charters. Until the issue gets sorted out, he said, the number of charter schools shouldn’t be expanded.

“I don’t think public education should be a for-profit venture,” he said. “We should be pouring every dollar into the classroom.”

Earlier this week, Gov. Rick Snyder, in response to questions about the Free Press’ series, said all schools, both public and charter, should be looked at to see how improvements can be made in accountability and transparency.

When asked today if charter management companies should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act, Snyder said: “I’ve talked about raising accountability standards, and I’d like to see more public discussion over the next year in terms of how do we raise the bar on increasing student growth and also financial stability and operations at all schools.”